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Biomedical subjects

A Liddell

Publications and source records attributed to A Liddell.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Dental visit satisfaction in a group of adults aged 50 years and over.

Studies have found that utilization of dental services is generally less common than utilization of medical services, particularly by older persons. Because satisfied dental patients were found to be greater users of the service than nonsatisfied patients, it was decided to investigate the correlates of dental visit satisfaction in older subjects. Predictions that satisfaction would be positively related to regular use of dental services and negatively related to dental anxiety were confirmed. The results also suggested that older dental patients have different expectations of their dentists than younger ones.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

Comparison between FSS-II scores of two groups of university students sampled 15 yr apart.

Undergraduate students were contacted in classes at Memorial University of Newfoundland during 1975 and asked to complete the FSS-II, on a voluntary basis; 511 students (232 male and 279 female subjects) provided enough data for analyses. In 1990, the same procedure was carried out, resulting in a comparable group of 359 students (161 male and 198 female subjects). Contrary to predictions, the 1990 students were more fearful than the 1975 group and the increase in fearfulness was contributed exclusively by women students. The component of fear contributing most to this increase related to social evaluation and violence.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Clinical correlates of dental anxiety among older adults.

Most studies of the relationship between dental anxiety and oral health status have used subjective rather than clinical indicators of oral health. In this paper we examine differences between older adults who are and are not dentally anxious using a broad range of clinical measures. The data show that dentally anxious individuals were more likely to be edentulous, and among the dentate, had more missing and fewer filled teeth. As a result, dentally anxious dentate subjects were more likely to need prosthodontic treatment. They were also more likely to need immediate treatment for the relief of pain and infection and periodontal care. There was evidence to suggest differences in patterns of dental treatment between those who were and were not dentally anxious and some evidence consistent with the hypothesis that aging influences the relationship between dental anxiety and oral health status.

Aging↗
PubMed1991

Self-reported fears (FSS-II) of subjects aged 50 years and over.

From studies of fears in children and adolescents, it was concluded that fears decrease with age and that girls show more fears than boys at the approach of adolescence. Community studies of adult fears as well as psychopathology have suggested a decrease in fears and phobic and anxiety symptoms with age. However, little is known of the distribution of fears in older adults. In view of this, the FSS-II was administered to a group of individuals aged 50 yr and over, as part of a larger epidemiological investigation of the oral health and treatment needs of older adults within Metropolitan Toronto. The results supported the hypothesis that the gender differences which ermerge at adolescence hold up into old age. The predicted age decrease in fearfulness was also supported.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

The effect of concordance in the treatment of clients with dental anxiety.

This study followed from an earlier case study in which an agoraphobic client was treated daily for a period of four weeks by in vivo exposure. Ratings of his perceived anxiety responses in the behavioural, cognitive, and physiological systems were monitored throughout treatment. Concordance between these ratings was associated with positive outcome. This study was an attempt to replicate some of these findings. A group programme involving four sessions in which clients were taught anxiety management skills, exposed in imagination to situations relating, to dentistry, and given homework assignments was carried out with clients presenting with disproportionate dental anxiety. The subjects were obtained by means of local newspaper and radio advertisements and randomly assigned to a massed or spaced treatment condition. It was predicted that the massed condition involving shorter intersession intervals would be superior at producing habituation and concordance than the spaced condition. The results failed to show differences between the massed and spaced treatment condition with regard to concordance and outcome. However, it was confirmed, once more, that concordance between the three modes of anxiety responding was positively related to outcome.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Dental fear and anxiety in an older adult population.

A random sample of 580 people aged between 50 and 89 yr completed a questionnaire containing two measures of dental fear and anxiety. One of these was Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) and the other a scale derived from the Structured Interview for Assessing Dental Fear (SIADF). The mean score on the DAS was 7.8, and 8.4% of subjects were classified as dentally anxious. There were no differences in mean DAS scores by sex but significant differences by age, with younger individuals having higher scores (P less than 0.0001). The edentulous had significantly higher scores than the dentate (P less than 0.001). Scores on the SIADF scale were higher among younger individuals (P less than 0.0001), the edentulous (P less than 0.01) and women (P less than 0.05). Older adults who were dentally anxious were less likely to report a regular source of dental care and a dental visit in the previous year and more likely to report having avoided or delayed dental treatment. Possible explanations of higher dental anxiety scores among younger persons and the edentulous are reviewed.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1990

Personality characteristics versus medical and dental experiences of dentally anxious children.

There is some conflicting evidence in the literature regarding whether dental phobia is a circumscribed fear or an instance of general fearfulness. In an attempt to tease out the effect of general fearfulness from that of aversive dental experiences, mothers of a group of 12 year-old children of both sexes were interviewed regarding their child's temperament and early dental and medical experiences. The results indicated that previous aversive dental experiences were more closely related to dental anxiety than was general fearfulness. Dentally anxious boys appeared to have been influenced by external factors, while the dentally anxious girls' influences appeared to be internal ones. Finally, early behavioral signs of distress in the operatory were predictive of later dental anxiety.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1990

What dental phobics say about their dental experiences.

Previous surveys have indicated that there is a substantial proportion of dentally anxious individuals in the general population. Many of these individuals avoid contact with dentistry as much as possible, while fearful individuals who present themselves for treatment are probably too uncomfortable or too afraid to make their views known. Consequently, a study of the feelings and attitudes of a group of dental phobics was carried out as part of a larger study of the efficacy of psychological treatments for excessive dental anxiety. The subjects were recruited by means of a newspaper advertisement and asked to complete a questionnaire designed to obtain information regarding their dental experiences and attitudes. Twenty-three individuals provided enough data for analysis. They were distributed widely in terms of age, education, income levels, and general fearfulness. They reported less satisfaction with the level of understanding or acceptance found in the last dentist they had seen than with the dentist's level of technical competence and the diagnostic information they received. Dental phobics who had been to a dentist in the past year were generally more satisfied with their dentist than those who had not. It is suggested that a good dentist-patient relationship based on understanding and acceptance is an important factor in overcoming the avoidance of fearful patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

A longitudinal study of the contribution of dental experience to dental anxiety in children between 9 and 12 years of age.

Dental records of a group of children of both sexes were examined systematically over a period of 3 years to determine if the quantity and quality of their dental experience would be associated with increases in dental anxiety. The study was a follow-up of an earlier cross-sectional survey in which older children had demonstrated increases in dental anxiety with age. According to the evidence obtained from their dental records, the children were divided into four groups depending on their patterns of attendance (regular/irregular) and whether or not they had received invasive treatment. The results indicated that children who did not receive invasive treatment during the period under scrutiny were significantly more anxious than those who had. On the other hand, the dental anxiety of children who attended regularly and received invasive treatment did not change significantly. This applied to boys and girls alike.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1988

Agoraphobics' understanding of the development and maintenance of their symptoms.

A 24-item test was devised to study the degree of understanding a group of agoraphobics had of the etiology and behavioral treatment of their symptoms before and after treatment, whether understanding was related to mode of symptom acquisition and, finally, if increase in understanding was related to treatment outcome. Clients were found to be ill-informed in areas most directly related to realistic exposure strategies, but there was no difference between those who had conditioning as opposed to cognitive acquisition histories. Changes in understanding were found to be related to outcome measures.

Adult↗